Turns Out This Disgusting Habit May Actually Be Good For You

We'll stick to antibiotics...

In the most disgusting study ever conducted, researchers have discovered that the awful habit of picking your nose and eating it may actually have untold health benefits.

A group of scientists from MIT are encouraging people to get mining for nose gold after research revealed that the mucus in our nostrils contains salivary mucins, which can form a barrier on your teeth that, in turn, stops cavity causing bacteria in its tracks.

The mucins are so impressive that the team behind this find hope to synthesise this health-boosting element of the naturally occurring booger and put the formula into toothpaste and chewing gum.

The study, published in 2015 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology has resurfaced recently after co-author Katharina Ribbeck released another study on the topic. The researcher is currently in the early stages of creating the aforementioned synthetic snot in her laboratory.

Once ready, this strange booger-based solution could save us all a trip to the dentist for quite awhile. Perhaps the dental community should be worried. Then again, maybe not.

Teeth aren’t the only body part that can be protected by nose gold either; further evidence suggests that nose mucus could prevent respiratory infections, stomach ulcers, and HIV.

In fact, other specialists are jumping on the booger train claiming that ‘those who consume snot are healthier, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies,’ according to lung specialist Friedrich Bischinger. [via Men’s Health]

Still, perhaps wait until the synthetic version is out on shelves before digging for treasure, sticking your finger up there too much can put you at risk for staph infections and no one wants that.